Dingbat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Printer's ornament)
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the typesetter's ornament. For other uses, see Dingbat (disambiguation).
This article contains special characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.
Poem typeset with generous use of decorative dingbats around the edges 1880s. Dingbats are not part of the text.

A dingbat is an ornament, character or spacer used in typesetting, sometimes more formally known as a printer's ornament or printer's character.[citation needed] The term continues to be used in the computer industry to describe fonts that have symbols and shapes in the positions designated for alphabetical or numeric characters.[citation needed]

Examples of characters included in Unicode (ITC Zapf dingbats series 100 and others):

  ✁ ✂ ✃ ✄ ☎ ✆ ✇ ✈ ✉ ☛ ☞ ✌ ✍ ✎ ✏
✐ ✑ ✒ ✓ ✔ ✕ ✖ ✗ ✘ ✙ ✚ ✛ ✜ ✝ ✞ ✟
✠ ✡ ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✦ ✧ ★ ✩ ✪ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✯
✰ ✱ ✲ ✳ ✴ ✵ ✶ ✷ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✻ ✼ ✽ ✾ ✿
❀ ❁ ❂ ❃ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❇ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋ ● ❍ ■ ❏
☺ ☻ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ • ◘ ○ ❐ ❑ ❒ ▲ ▼ ◆ ❖
◗ ❘ ❙ ❚ ❛ ❜ ❝ ❞  

The advent of Unicode and the universal character set it provides allowed commonly-used dingbats to be given their own character codes, from 2700 to 27BF. Although fonts claiming Unicode coverage will contain glyphs for dingbats in addition to alphabetic characters, fonts that have dingbats in place of alphabetic characters continue to be popular, primarily for ease of input. Such fonts are also sometimes known as pi fonts.[citation needed]

Some of the dingbat symbols have been used as signature marks, used in bookbinding to order sections.

Contents

[edit] Unicode Dingbats

Main article: Unicode symbols

Dingbats were added to the Unicode Standard in June, 1993 with the release of version 1.1.

The Unicode block for Dingbats is U+2700–U+27BF:

Dingbats[1]
Unicode.org chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+270x ✁ ✂ ✃ ✄ ✅ ✆ ✇ ✈ ✉ ✊ ✋ ✌ ✍ ✎ ✏
U+271x ✐ ✑ ✒ ✓ ✔ ✕ ✖ ✗ ✘ ✙ ✚ ✛ ✜ ✝ ✞ ✟
U+272x ✠ ✡ ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✦ ✧ ✨ ✩ ✪ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✯
U+273x ✰ ✱ ✲ ✳ ✴ ✵ ✶ ✷ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✻ ✼ ✽ ✾ ✿
U+274x ❀ ❁ ❂ ❃ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❇ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋ ❌ ❍ ❎ ❏
U+275x ❐ ❑ ❒ ❓ ❔ ❕ ❖ ❗ ❘ ❙ ❚ ❛ ❜ ❝ ❞ ❟
U+276x ❠ ❡ ❢ ❣ ❤ ❥ ❦ ❧ ❨ ❩ ❪ ❫ ❬ ❭ ❮ ❯
U+277x ❰ ❱ ❲ ❳ ❴ ❵ ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼ ❽ ❾ ❿
U+278x ➀ ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅ ➆ ➇ ➈ ➉ ➊ ➋ ➌ ➍ ➎ ➏
U+279x ➐ ➑ ➒ ➓ ➔ ➕ ➖ ➗ ➘ ➙ ➚ ➛ ➜ ➝ ➞ ➟
U+27Ax ➠ ➡ ➢ ➣ ➤ ➥ ➦ ➧ ➨ ➩ ➪ ➫ ➬ ➭ ➮ ➯
U+27Bx ➰ ➱ ➲ ➳ ➴ ➵ ➶ ➷ ➸ ➹ ➺ ➻ ➼ ➽ ➾ ➿
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 6.1

[edit] Typefaces

For more examples of dingbat typefaces, see Wingdings and Webdings. Another famous dingbat typeface, Zapf Dingbats, was designed by the typographer Hermann Zapf.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Typography terminology
Page
Lowercase 'a' in Adobe Caslon
Paragraph
Character
Capitalization
Vertical aspects
Classifications
Punctuation
Typesetting
Typographic units
Digital typography
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dingbat&oldid=477604755"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages